Tough #AustrianGP for Taka Nakagami – DNF in Spielberg

The Austrian Grand Prix ended prematurely for Taka Nakagami after a tough MotoGP race day at the revamped Red Bull Ring on Sunday. The LCR Honda IDEMITSU rider crashed out towards the midway point of the 28-lap MotoGP event after suffering with front-end issues, but fortunately walked away with no injuries.

Starting from the fifth row of the grid, the Japanese star could not make the quick getaway he was hoping for and lost a couple of places on the opening lap. He settled into 17th position – just behind LCR team-mate Álex Márquez – but struggled with the feeling of his RC213v throughout and saw his hopes ended by a fall at turn seven on lap 11.

Takaaki Nakagami – DNF

It was a tough race. I couldn’t make a good start and I dropped some positions at the beginning of the race. I was behind Álex, my team-mate, and I had some trouble with the front tyre, maybe because of the pressure, so the feeling was really difficult to stop the bike. I wasn’t able to adapt and I lost the front end at the entry to turn seven and our race was over. I’m really disappointed and want to apologise to all my team. I have no injuries which is good, so we’ll keep continuing to push heading into the next race in Misano.